How to Identify a Dangerous/Malicious Email

Between Trojans, spyware, and ransomware, your data and your operations can be severely and irreparably affected by just one successful cyberattack.

How can you lessen your chances of falling victim to these different kinds of malicious software? There is, of course, a technical piece here: having updated anti-virus, robust firewalls, and other solutions that we touch on more deeply in this article.

But as we indicated in that same piece, employee education is the real key; even if you have the right technical solutions in place, none is foolproof, and none will protect you in the face of human intervention.

A critical element of this education is teaching your staff how to identify a dangerous or malicious email before they react in a way that could impact your network. And after two decades in the IT support industry, you can imagine that we’ve seen our fair share of both close calls and full-blown, large-scale infections.

Below we’ve taken our experiences to compile a list of the most telling red flags when it comes to malicious emails, along with the steps you can take to keep yourself safe.

Most common red flags that signify a dangerous/malicious email

Here are four common red flags that you and your employees should be on the lookout for in your Inboxes:

The email doesn’t address you by name. This is more important than you may think. If the email begins with a simple “Hi,” a vague “Sir/Madame,” or your email address, there’s a large possibility that the email is spam. These sort of impersonal greetings will often be a warning that you need to keep your eyes keenly peeled for one (or more) of the following malicious attempts.